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learning objectives for effective e-learning

Most e-learning courses have some sort of stated learning objective. Ideally, the course is designed to meet the objective. From my experience, many of the objectives in e-learning courses aren’t very actionable. They lack clarity and most importantly, they lack measurement. And those are the two things you can do to ensure your e-learning courses are effective.

Create Clear Learning Objectives for Effective E-Learning

Many times we’ll see learning objectives like this: understand company policies or learn how to give feedback. These types of objectives are fuzzy. What does “understand” or “learn” mean?

Objectives should be more specific, such as, a new manager applies X policy in Y situation. The objective identifies the learner, what will be covered, and when it will be used.

Measure Understanding of Objectives for Effective E-Learning

When crafting learning objectives, you should at the same time think about how they are measured. If the goal is for the manager to understand company policies, then there has to be a way to prove understanding. Going back to the point above, the manager applies the correct policy in a given situation.

Thus, if you want to determine how well the manager understands a given policy, you craft a situation in which she has to apply it correctly. At this point, you have a way to measure understanding.

When outlining course objectives, step away from the fuzzy terms and focus on actionable words that also guide you towards a means of measurement. This helps you craft the right objectives, pull in the right content and activities, and build a way to properly assess understanding.

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Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.

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3 responses to “Do These Two Things to Create Effective E-Learning”

Music to my ears! I find myself constantly trying to explain the concepts above to stakeholders. You have articulated it in such a clear way. I will leverage from this article to better explain how to write good learning objective. Thank you!

Feedback is certainly essential in all settings – from learning to personal development. However, this can be also too intensive, as Khan Academy shows. With their every-minute game-like score I have hard time to not feel patronized or pressed too much. At the end of the day, the main goal of learning is usually clear (knowledge, skill etc) and adults generally do not need to by closely guarded to reach it.

Who can write more clearly than you about such matters!
I assure you, nobody, I enjoyed the article and
assume you have more such material? If yes, so please
post it because it’s somewhat unusual for me in the current moment, and not only for me, that is my view.
Hopefully, I can get an in-depth manual of yours and
take note of all of the news and the most recent data.